


Meeting Bucky

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [91]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Car Accidents, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, Kid Tony, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Sort Of, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 12:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15606777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: “Do you want to move in with me?” asked Bucky, wringing his hands as though he expected that to expel some of his nerves.“I have a kid,” blurted Steve.Bucky blinked.“That’s not what I meant,” groaned Steve.ORThe one where Tony is not at all sure of Bucky - even if Steve likes the guy.





	Meeting Bucky

“Do you want to move in with me?” asked Bucky, wringing his hands as though he expected that to expel some of his nerves.

“I have a kid,” blurted Steve.

Bucky blinked.

“That’s not what I meant,” groaned Steve, leaning his head back against Bucky’s blue couch.

“Do you have a kid or not?” asked Bucky slowly. Out of all of the responses he had expected, this was not on the list.

“Sort of. It’s complicated. Tony lives with me but only sometimes.”

“So like, a custody thing? Does he live with his mom the rest of the time?”

“His dad, actually. Howard and I were close growing up and joined the army together out of high school. Howard’s wife died when Tony was a baby – car accident – and with Howard in the army still, Tony lives with me sometimes.”

“Is he living with you now?” asked Bucky, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his boyfriend of seven months had a child in his life.

“Yes,” said Steve, unable to keep a fond smile off his face. “He’s going to be five this weekend. I was actually going to invite you to go camping with us to celebrate. I want you to meet him.”

“Is this why you never spend the night?”

Steve nodded. He had been looking for a time to tell Bucky about Tony for weeks; he wasn’t ashamed of his nephew but he had practically raised the kid and didn’t want to introduce Tony to someone just for it to end and Tony to get hurt. Besides, there was just no good way to say, ‘By the way, I have this kid who I am sometimes the caretaker for and he’s not mine by blood but I still love him.’ 

“I think we should table the ‘moving in’ thing,” said Bucky.

\- Meeting Bucky – 

“Uncle Steve!” squealed a high pitched voice before a tiny human with wavy brown hair jumped into Steve’s arms.

“Hey kiddo!” laughed Steve, swinging the boy in a gentle circle. “Did you have fun with Miss Darcy?”

“We played tag and colored pictures!” explained Tony instead of answering.

“Sounds like fun. Now, go give Miss Darcy this check and tell her thank you.”

Bucky watched as Steve spoke briefly to Darcy, a college student who watched Tony and lived in the same apartment building. Then Darcy was gone and it was just the three of them.

“Tony, I want you to meet Bucky,” said Steve when they were all seated on the couch, Tony on Steve’s lap.

“I thought Bucky was an outside friend,” said Tony, glaring at Bucky. “Why is he here?”

“We’ve talked about this Tony,” said Steve firmly. “Bucky is my boyfriend, I want you to meet him because he is going to be spending more time with us.”

“But you already spend so much time with him!”

“Tony, please show Bucky your manners.”

“Hello Bucky,” said Tony sullenly, looking at his lap. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Bucky, biting back a grin. He didn’t consider himself a ‘kid person’ but he had to admit that the pouty child was adorable.

“Sorry, we’re working on being polite,” said Steve ruefully. “Tony is normally a pretty easy going kid.”

“I’m not going to take Steve away from you,” said Bucky with an understanding smile. “I was hoping we could share.”

“Share? Like Daddy and Uncle Steve share me? Because if Uncle Steve lives with you sometimes then who will I live with when Daddy is gone?”

“You’re still going to live with me, Tony,” assured Steve, realizing that was probably part of the reason Tony wasn’t welcoming Bucky. “Or you’ll live with your dad when he gets back. But Bucky is going to be spending more time with us now. I thought he could go camping with us this weekend. Wouldn’t that be a fun way to get to know each other?”

“Fine,” sighed Tony, for all the world sounding forty instead of almost five. He glared at Bucky while snuggling into Steve.

\- Meeting Bucky –

It started raining lightly an hour into the drive to their campsite two days later. Tony was sitting in his car seat in the middle, chatting up a storm. Camping was all Tony had been able to talk about for the week leading up to it – even with the addition of Bucky, Tony was thrilled to go on a trip. 

“Uncle Steve, will Daddy be able to call me in the woods?” asked Tony.

“Of course, kiddo,” said Steve with a grin. “I brought my phone and satellite phone so there’s no chance in missing him.”

“Good, because he’s going to call. He promised last week when we talked.”

“And we will be ready when he calls, I promise.”

“And you never break a promise!”

“Oh?” said Bucky, twisting around to smile at the kid in the back.

“Not on purpose. And he’s never lied to me. Right Uncle Steve?”

“That’s right, Tony,” said Steve.

“Steve, watch out!”

A white pick-up truck hydroplaned, skidding into the side of Steve’s hard top Jeep Wrangler, as they were about to go across the bridge. The force sent the Jeep careening into the river below. Steve’s head hit the steering wheel, knocking him out. Bucky groaned with the impact, staring dazed as the car floated, filling with water around his ankles.

“Oh shit,” cursed Bucky, springing into action. “Steve? Stevie, you gotta wake up.”

“Uncle Steve?” asked a teary voice from the backseat.

Bucky turned around and saw Tony still strapped firmly in his car seat.

“Hey kid, I’m going to get you out of there and bring you up here with Steve and me, okay?” said Bucky, already reaching back and struggling to undo the car seat buckles.

“I’m not allowed up front,” sniffed Tony as Bucky got the straps off and dragged him up to the front. Water was up to Bucky’s waist.

“Okay kid, I’m going to get us out of here. But I need you to do exactly as I say. I need you to hold on real tight to your Uncle Steve. You’re going to hold your breath and squeeze Steve’s head so his mouth and nose are covered. Got it?”

Tony sniffed and nodded. Bucky helped him get into position. Just then, the windshield broke inward under the pressure of the water, the river flooding into the car. In seconds Bucky had a hold of Steve around his chest and was swimming out of the quickly sinking car, kicking like mad to get to the surface.

Bucky broke the surface, gasping in welcome air. He turned on his back, Steve resting on his chest, Tony on Steve’s shoulders, coughing up swallowed water.

“Hold on, Tony, don’t let go, I’m going to swim to shore,” panted Bucky.

Instead of fighting the current, Bucky kicked with it, slowly making his way sideways to the shore. This put them further downstream than the bridge but they did eventually reach it. Bucky dragged Steve and Tony up the muddy bank before collapsing down next to them.

“B-bucky?” asked Tony, several minutes later. “Is Uncle Steve okay?”

“Yeah kid,” said Bucky, pushing himself up to find Tony sitting next to Steve, shivering.

Bucky checked Steve’s pulse and found it strong and steady. There was a sizable bump on his forehead off to one side but after Bucky pried each eye lid apart he found the pupils reacting normally to light and the same size.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” said Bucky, pulling Tony into his lap to get the kid a little warmer. “We’re going to get back to the road and call for help.”

“Hey! Hey! Don’t move!” yelled a voice. Bucky looked up into a faint light of headlights and spotted a man standing off to one side, waving at him. “I’ve called for help, it’s on it’s way. Is your friend okay?”

“Unconscious!” yelled Bucky. “How far away are they?”

“Like three minutes! I’m going to wave them down from here. Just sit tight.”

Bucky nodded more to himself than the stranger because the man was too far away to see. Instead he looked down at the kid in his lap and the boyfriend resting on the ground at his side. 

“This is not how I planned this weekend going,” said Bucky.

“Me either,” muttered Tony.

\- Meeting Bucky – 

When Steve woke up, he was in the hospital in a curtained off area of the emergency room. He could hear noises of other people around him but he was alone.

“Fuck,” groaned Steve, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the table. “What happened?”

“You drove off a bridge, you idiot!” came the disembodied voice of Bucky.

“Bucky?” said Steve, looking up slowly. “Are you dead? Did I kill you?!”

“No! I’m like three cubical things over with Tony.”

Steve stood up slowly, giving his legs a moment to steady and his head a minute to settle. Then he walked until he found the open curtains of Bucky’s bed. Bucky was sitting on the chair with Tony in his lap, the kid asleep. 

“Sit down, punk, you look like you’re about to fall over,” said Bucky with a smirk.

“What happened?” said Steve, sitting on the table – he wasn’t convinced it was a bed.

“We went off the road into the river,” said Bucky. “You were knocked out, Tony and I swam to the surface and dragged you back on land. Now we’re here.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Like, an hour or two. Doctor said you’d be fine once you woke up, just a mild concussion and some bruised ribs from the seatbelt.”

“Is Tony okay? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Tony got a dislocated shoulder and broken arm but he’s good now. No lasting damage. He couldn’t stop asking about you but he fell asleep about fifteen minutes ago.”

Steve nodded and reached out to take Tony from his boyfriend.

“Nope,” said Bucky with a smirk. “Tony and I are friends now so he’s mine. Also you have to get checked out by the doctor again before you can get cleared to leave. I’m not handing you this kid just for you to fall over or puke on him or something.”

Steve rolled his eyes but went off to find a doctor or nurse or someone who would be willing to clear him to just go back home. Though how that was going to happen, Steve wasn’t sure because his car was in a river and Bucky only drove a motorcycle. 

By the time Steve was cleared and had signed Tony out (after he had been scolded by two nurses and an aid for wandering off), Bucky had solved the problem and Tony was awake.

“Get in losers, we’re going shopping,” said Clint from the drivers seat of his grey mini van. 

“Thanks for the ride, man,” said Bucky. “Where did you get a car seat?”

“Dollar General has everything!” said Clint with a proud grin.

Steve eyed the off-brand car seat with misgivings but decided that since Clint’s car was not at the bottom of a river at that moment, he was in no position to say anything. Besides, it was enough of a struggle to get Tony to let go of him long enough to strap the kid in, so he had to pick his battles. When they pulled out of the hospital parking lot twenty-seven minutes later, Steve was just ready to take a nap – his head was pounding.

“And then Bucky swam us all the way to the shore!” said Tony, fighting off his own yawn. “But Uncle Steve wouldn’t wake up, so that was pretty scary. But Bucky said Uncle Steve was fine and he is, so I guess Bucky’s okay.”

“Just okay?” said Bucky, gently ruffling Tony’s hair.

“Fine,” giggled Tony. “Bucky’s better than okay. But not by much!”

“I’d take that if I were you,” advised Clint as he drove. “It took Tony three full months of me hanging around before he moved beyond death glares to just plain glares. A week in and already more than okay? That’s a miracle!”

Tony smiled up at Bucky, giving every indication that the “better than okay” was on it’s way to “great”.

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to get everything updated this month! Everything - all those stories that seem to have been forgotten are getting an update. Plus the three new stories I have going.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
